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| Brazil's OGX files for bankruptcy protection Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 12:20 PM PDT  By Sabrina Lorenzi and Jeb Blount RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - OGX Petróleo e Gas Participações SA, the Brazilian oil company controlled by former billionaire Eike Batista, sought court protection from creditors on Wednesday in Latin America's largest-ever corporate bankruptcy filing. The bankruptcy protection request, which was confirmed by the court in Rio de Janeiro, came after OGX failed to reach an agreement with creditors to renegotiate part of its $5.1 billion debt load. It also is another chapter in the unraveling of Batista's once high-flying industrial empire, which he has been dismantling in recent months after disappointing output from offshore OGX wells set off a crisis of investor confidence. If the court approves the request, OGX will have 60 days to come up with a corporate restructuring plan. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Leak of combustible fluid seen as culprit in Citgo refinery fire Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 11:58 AM PDT  By Erwin Seba HOUSTON (Reuters) - A leak of combustible fluid from blistering hot machinery is viewed as the likely cause of the October 23 fire at Citgo Petroleum Corp.'s refinery in Illinois, according to sources familiar with the investigation of the blaze. Workers found the leak while replacing a pump last Wednesday in the bottoms section of the vacuum distillation unit at the Lemont refinery near Chicago, which has total capacity of 174,500 barrels per day. They halted work on the pump and began preparing to address the leak but then retreated from the VDU, fearing for their own safety. The conflagration burned for three hours at the base of the VDU, causing heat distress to the supports. Full Story | Top |
| Medicines Co blood thinner cuts death risk in European ambulance trial Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 11:54 AM PDT Medicines Co's blood thinner Angiomax, when administered en route to the hospital to patients suffering a serious heart attack, significantly reduced the risk of major bleeding and death compared with commonly used heparin, according to data from a large clinical trial. The rate was 5.1 percent in the Angiomax group versus 8.4 percent for those who got heparin, which researchers said was highly statistically significant. "The benefit was early and sustained at 30 days," said Dr. Philippe Steg, lead investigator of the Euromax study, who presented the findings on Wednesday at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific meeting in San Francisco. A secondary goal, added second heart attacks to the composite of death and major bleeding. Full Story | Top |
| Lockheed signs deal to design largest ocean thermal electric plant Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 11:49 AM PDT By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leading U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin signed a contract on Wednesday to design the biggest power station fueled by differences in ocean temperatures, a 10-megawatt plant that would provide electricity for a new Asian resort. The contract between Lockheed and Beijing-based Reignwood Group, a Chinese consumer products and lifestyle firm, is the initial 10-month stage in a 3-1/2-year effort to build the green energy electric plant, which would generate power using a process known as ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC). And that's where the business is for Lockheed," said Dan Heller, vice president of new ventures for Lockheed's Mission Systems and Training unit. Heller declined to say how much the contract is worth for Lockheed or to estimate the potential cost of constructing the facility, which uses a process that has been tested in smaller plants but has never been developed on a commercial scale. Full Story | Top |
| Thousands evacuated after Pemex gasoline leak in western Mexico Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 11:14 AM PDT Thousands of people were evacuated in western Mexico on Wednesday morning after thieves tapping a pipeline run by state oil monopoly Pemex caused a major gasoline leak. Television footage showed a large column of gasoline shooting skywards near the town of Tlajomulco south of the state capital Guadalajara, Mexico's second biggest city. Arturo Zamora, Jalisco's state interior minister, told reporters the leak was under control and that locals in the outermost reaches affected by the incident could be allowed back to their homes from early Wednesday afternoon. Pemex, whose pipelines are frequently the target of attacks by thieves, said it shut down the flow of gasoline as soon as the leak was detected. Full Story | Top |
| New two-hormone Roche drug shows promise in diabetes, obesity Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 11:04 AM PDT By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - An experimental drug that mimics the effects of two naturally occurring hormones appears to work significantly better than existing single-hormone medicines against diabetes and obesity, scientists said on Wednesday. A team of German and U.S.-based researchers said they are using "mother nature's toolkit" to seek a breakthrough for treating type 2 diabetes and related obesity which is affecting rapidly growing numbers of people in the West and many developing nations. The new dual-action molecule, which is being developed by Swiss drugmaker Roche, targets receptors for hormones known as GLP-1 and GIP that play a critical role in regulating the body's metabolism. Currently approved injectable drugs such as Novo Nordisk's Victoza and Byetta from Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca mimic only GLP-1. Full Story | Top |
| Top Obamacare official says website a 'debacle', points to insurers Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 10:57 AM PDT  By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government's top health official on Wednesday called the rollout of the website that is central to President Barack Obama's signature insurance reform a "debacle" but blamed insurers for cancelling the health plans of hundreds of thousands of Americans. The government has scrambled for weeks to fix the troubled insurance exchange website that has frustrated millions of Americans who want to sign up for new health plans under Obama's Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. Obama, who is due to speak about the healthcare reform later on Wednesday, and other administration officials have repeatedly promised that the 85 percent of Americans who already have health insurance would be able to keep their current plans. Speaking on Capitol Hill, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius apologized for the botched rollout of the Healthcare.gov website and vowed to win back the confidence of millions of disappointed Americans. Full Story | Top |
| Mozambique's Renamo says leader 'hunted', government cracks down Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 10:23 AM PDT  By Manuel Mucari MAPUTO (Reuters) - Mozambique's Renamo opposition party said on Wednesday the army was trying to hunt down and kill its leader after President Armando Guebuza said the former rebel group was threatening national sovereignty with renewed attacks. Renamo chief and ex-rebel commander Afonso Dhlakama is in hiding in the mountains of central Mozambique after government troops on October 21 overran his jungle base camp, where he had been living for a year after withdrawing from city life. This week the army captured another Renamo jungle camp in central Sofala province, tightening a military noose around Dhlakama and his followers who are holed up in the nearby Gorongosa mountains, military officials say. Full Story | Top |
| F-16 jet delivery to Iraq on track for next fall: U.S. official Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 09:09 AM PDT The delivery of F-16 fighters to Iraq is on track for next fall, a senior U.S. administration official said on Wednesday, with Iraq recently depositing an installment of roughly $650 million for the jets. Iraq last year signed a new contract to buy its second set of 18 F-16 fighters from the United States, part of a deal to purchase 36 of the jets to rebuild its air force. Full Story | Top |
| Morocco solar power project gets 654 mln euro German loan Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 08:41 AM PDT  By Aziz El Yaakoubi RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco has secured a 654 million euro loan from German state-owned bank KFW to part-finance two solar power plants totalling 300 megawatts worth an estimated 1.7 billion euros. Tenders for construction of the two plants, one of 200 megawatts (MW) and the other of 100 MW, near the southern city of Ouarzazate are expected in the next weeks, Mustapha Bakoury, the head of Morocco's solar energy agency Masen, said on Wednesday at the Desertec industrial initiative (Dii) Conference held outside Rabat. Masen said consortia led by Spain's Abengoa, GDF's International Power and ACWA Power had been pre-selected for the 200 MW (Noor II) tender. KFW confirmed that it will make the loans. Full Story | Top |
| Total Nigeria's 9-month pretax profit falls 9 pct Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 08:41 AM PDT  LAGOS (Reuters) - Total Nigeria, the local unit of French oil major Total, said on Wednesday its nine month pretax profit fell 9 percent to 5.14 billion naira, from 5.67 billion naira last year. Turnover however, rose to 174.33 billion naira in the period, against 166.38 billion naira a year ago, the company said in the filing through the Nigeria Stock Exchange. The oil marketing company proposed an interim dividend of 2.0 naira to shareholders. Full Story | Top |
| Sun mirrors lighten winter gloom in deep Norwegian valley Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 07:44 AM PDT  By Environment Correspondent Alister Doyle RJUKAN, Norway (Reuters) - Sunshine lit up a Norwegian town in a remote, dark valley for the first time in wintertime on Wednesday, as mirrors high on a mountainside realized a century-old dream. About 1,000 people, including children wearing sunglasses and with yellow suns painted on their faces, cheered when the sun broke through clouds to illuminate the main square in Rjukan, until now in shadow from early October to mid-March. "It's a crazy idea - but a bit of madness is fun," said Oystein Haugan, who led the 5 million crown ($849,300) project to set up the three mirrors with a combined surface area of 51 sq meters (550 sq ft) that will track the sun by computer. Organizers reckon the reflected light will be about 80 percent as bright as the real sun. Full Story | Top |
| Cameroon increases transit fee on Chad oil pipeline Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 07:41 AM PDT Cameroon's government and COTCO, the company that owns and manages the pipeline shipping oil from Chad to Cameroon's coast, have agreed to more than triple the transit fee paid to Cameroon's government. Cameroon will now receive 618.02 CFA francs per barrel of oil, up from 194.91 CFA francs, according to an agreement signed on Tuesday but announced by Cameroon's state oil company SNH on Wednesday. SNH said that 410.42 million barrels of oil were shipped to Cameroon's Kribi port through the pipeline between October 2003, when oil started flowing, and October 2011. Cameroon earned some $168 million in transit fees as a result, the statement said. Full Story | Top |
| Senate panel to hold Obamacare hearing on November 5 Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 07:03 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee plans to hold a hearing on November 5 with Marilyn Tavenner, a top U.S. health official, about the rocky rollout of Obamacare. It marks the first announcement of an oversight hearing in the Democrat-controlled Senate since the glitch-ridden launch of Healthcare.gov on October 1. Tavenner, administrator of the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK-Norway power cable project could face delays - Statnett Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 05:59 AM PDT A project to build a power cable between Britain and Norway may be delayed, Statnett said, if the British government does not agree by the spring to include the Norwegian grid operator in a payment system for providing backup capacity. Britain is introducing an auction system to fix payments to power facilities for making spare capacity available on standby. "If there is no agreement by Easter, I would not exclude that the UK cable project could be delayed beyond 2020," Auke Lont, Statnett's chief executive, told Reuters on Wednesday on the sidelines of an energy conference. Statnett wants to build a 1,400 megawatt (MW) interconnection to Germany by 2018 and another 1400 MW cable to Britain by 2020. Full Story | Top |
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